Leveraging AI to monetize improved customer experience

Nuance Communications, Inc. is a global provider of speech recognition, natural language understanding and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions to the Healthcare, Mobile, Enterprise, and Imaging sectors, holding over 400 patents and numerous industry awards. It has been active in the telecoms sector since its foundation in 1992, and in 2017 launched its Nuance Loop omnichannel AI platform for CSPs. I spoke to Andres Alvargonzalez, Marketing Director, Nuance Communications for further insight.

Q. We hear a lot about digital transformation. How does this directly relate to the customer experience and what do you think are the key issues that CSPs need to consider?

A. Digital transformation is a buzzword and telecoms operators know that they have to do it. They are also aware that it’s all about customer centricity. Our solutions enable CSPs to connect customers at the right time and using the right channels. To do this you need to have personalized services and solutions. We do this by using artificial intelligence and machine learning to profile customers. We give CSPs the ability to understand how customer demands are changing by providing them with meaningful customer insights. OTT service providers are already taking advantage of this and by using analytics and AI, CSPs can build the same capabilities.

Q. Have you seen any good examples of Digital Transformation programmes that are already improving the experience for customers?

A. Some of our customers are already benefiting from improved customer relationships and spikes in revenues with the help of the solutions and capabilities that we are providing. For example, one of our customers – a tier one carrier with eight million subscribers – wanted to address the fact that 70% of its carriers were silent roamers [ie when they traveled abroad they turned off their phones]. So, using Nuance Loop, our data marketing platform, they started offering their customers roaming packages just as they were about to head off abroad, for example at the airport. As a result of this initiative, they generated more than $370 million in incremental revenues in just one year.

Q. Where do CSPs fail most at the moment in providing an optimum service for their customers?

A. All operators will claim they are actively pursuing digital transformation but the reality is that many are focussed on cost reduction or on operational migration from their old BSS. One of the main problems with achieving full digital transformation is the lack of talent. You need that knowledge to build the same types of platforms as the OTTs. It’s particularly difficult for telecoms operators because they need to leverage their legacy. This is actually one of the big advantages that we have. Incumbent vendors are still dependent on the flagship technology value proposition and are focussed on capex investment strategies.

Q. Nuance has been working on AI from its very early days. How do you think AI is currently viewed by CSPs and how do you see this changing over the next couple of years?

A. There is undoubtedly some negativity coming from the press that is driven by fear [about the impact on jobs], particularly in emerging economies. But I can only see positives and opportunities. AI is driving new customer engagement opportunities with tools such as chatbots, virtual assistants, in-app messaging, two-way SMS and conversational IVR. It’s all about scale and access to good data is critical. In practice, there will not be one single provider delivering AI to every single vertical.

This does not mean that using AI is not without its challenges. Even when CSPs have data it is often owned by different departments and they are not always willing to share. The fact that we have a disruptive business model can help us get a buy in from departments across the organisation. We operate on a revenue-share model which means that our technology deployments imply zero capex and opex. Instead, we operate on a revenue-share basis. We are paid based on the incremental revenues that our products and services generate.

Q. Is there a natural starting point for CSPs when they are thinking about introducing AI and how do they build on an initial investment in AI technology?

A. The starting point is to work with a partner. You need access to talent if you want to put together a team to build a data lake. If you want to do that yourself, then good luck! It will take you a while because you are unlikely to have the relevant expertise within your organization.

Q. Vivo’s “Always On” Voice Portal has attracted a lot of attention, can you explain the role of Nuance’s Loop platform in creating this and what other CSPs can learn from this?

A. We received three awards for this so it’s something we’re really proud of. Just to recap, this is part of our Nuance Loop platform. The service enables prepaid subscribers with zero balances to recharge their mobile credit. It does this by intercepting calls placed without a balance, allowing users to complete their desired call by using a number of different customized offers to recharge their credit. In fact, all the carriers in Brazil are now using Loop and we have changed the way Brazilian mobile users think about the relationship with their service provider. It has, effectively, turned operators into digital service providers.

The lesson to be learned here is that all customer touchpoints can be leveraged to generate incremental revenues. Our carriers have increased top-ups by 60% and we have helped turnaround unsuccessful advertising models. We have delivered 60 million advertisements over our voice channel.

Putting all of this in context, we are really excited about the future of our omnichannel AI platform continuing to help global CSPs build multiple incremental revenue-generating capabilities.